London, (EFE).- The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced on Tuesday that “illegal” immigrants who arrive in the United Kingdom by boat will not have the option to request asylum in the country and will be arrested.
“We are going to stop those who come here illegally and we will deport them in a matter of weeks, either to their own country, if it is safe, or to a safe third country like Rwanda,” Sunak said at a press conference to present the law on immigration that his government has begun to process in Parliament.
“If you arrive here illegally, you cannot request asylum (…), you cannot make spurious claims about human rights and you cannot stay,” added the head of the British Government.
Law discussed
The legislation, which has raised doubts among opposition deputies about whether it complies with the European Convention on Human Rights, establishes that migrants trying to reach British shores may be detained for 28 days “without being able to request provisional release or judicial review ”, has detailed the Executive.
London will evaluate in “exceptional circumstances” whether a person may suffer “serious and irreversible” risks when deported to a certain country, but even in those cases the maximum period in which it will allow the appeal to be analyzed before expelling him will be 45 days .
Future legislation will be retroactive, the prime minister detailed, so the measures will apply to migrants who have already arrived in the country.
“I understand that a debate will be generated about the harshness of these measures,” said Sunak, who assured that his intention is to offer “safe and legal routes for those who need it most.”
safe routes
In this regard, the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, avoided responding in her last appearance before the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee on what legal routes an asylum seeker can follow to reach the United Kingdom from countries other than Syria. , Afghanistan and Ukraine, for which special programs exist.
In 2022, about 13,000 Albanians arrived in the United Kingdom by boat, about a third of the immigrants detected in that period.
Together with the future immigration law, the Government today announced an agreement with Albania by which its status as a “safe country” is recognized, which will facilitate deportations from British territory.
Those who are expelled will also be banned from entering the UK for life, “as the US and Australia do,” Sunak said.
The British Justice gave the green light in June to the controversial plan to send migrants to Rwanda, instead of offering them asylum in British territory, although the Court of Appeal plans to review that decision next month.